Demon Queened - Chapter 57 - Rough Draft

Lucy

Sending Eena off was… not exactly harder than I let on, but more like harder than I thought it would be? I really did want her to have a nice dinner with her aunt, but I also really wanted answers to my own questions… answers about whether Mom really did keep such big secrets from me, and if so, why? I didn’t regret my decision to send her off first, though! I just wished I’d been more aware of my own feelings, so that I could have talked them over with Eena before she left.

That’s probably why I was more happy than surprised when Eena showed up sooner than I expected - just as I was finishing up the basic soup I’d been cooking in an earthen pot. It wasn’t much - conjured water, some dried meat and vegetables, and a little bit of spice, all cooked in a pot of magically hardened earth with a magical fire. The sort of fare I was used to eating on journeys, before Eena started bringing me all sorts of food from the tower… 

“Eena!” I called out, smiling at her.

Eena didn’t smile back. She just stared at the pot for a long moment, before finally speaking. “Is… that what you were planning to eat while the rest of us enjoyed our meal?”

“Uh-huh!” I confirmed, giving Eena a reassuring smile. “It’s not that tasty, but it’s really warm and filling!”

“And to think, I was going to be eating a decadent meal while you were… Why didn’t you tell me your food stores were so limited? I could have offered you something from my bag, before leaving.”

“Eena…” I said, giving her a small smile. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… I don’t really care about food that much.”

“...” Eena didn’t respond. She just stared at me with wide eyes.

“I mean, I do like eating!” I hurried to reassure her. “Good food really tastes good! But I eat a lot of good food? A lot of food most people don’t have access to… So I think it’s okay to eat more basically now and again!”

“But… You… It’s…” Eena faltered, before shaking her head. “No. I refuse. No girlfriend of mine is going to be subsisting on subpar sustenance while I feast at my tower. You’re eating dinner with the rest of us.”

“Well… It’s not like I mind,” I admitted, “but what happened to eating with your aunt before coming to get me?”

“She didn’t even give us time to pick up our utensils before questioning my ulterior motivations,” Eena told me, sighing. “I don’t think she likes me very much. Though, honestly, the feeling’s mutual - even if she was blackmailed into staying away from me, during my childhood…”

“She was blackmailed?” I asked, eyes wide. “That doesn’t sound good… Who would want to blackmail her?”

“Alira. A woman I fired many years ago. It would appear she was especially interested in keeping me isolated. The better to hold power over me, I suppose. Though I don’t think that really makes up for my rough treatment of her. I blamed her for the separation between me and Nivera, you see, so I handled her termination… harshly.”

That didn’t sound very good… but I was willing to bet it was more complicated than Eena wanted to admit! She always tried to paint herself in the worst possible light, after all. Like everything was her fault. 

Which was why, rather than responding or asking more questions, I just stepped forward and pulled her into a hug. She seemed a little surprised, at first, stiffening up in my arms, but then she sort of melted into them, wrapping her arms back around me. 

It was warm. Not literally - I mean, I couldn’t really feel it because of all the armor - but on the inside! It warmed my heart to be holding someone I loved like this. To reassure someone I cared about. Someone who cared about me…

“Yes, well,” Devilla murmured after a moment, before reluctantly pulling away from me. “We’re meant to be going to dinner, yes? I’m sure you have many questions for my aunt. She’s already confirmed that a human soldier, by the name of Brielle, was encountered and rescued by my dam. Apparently, my mother roped said dam into marriage with promises of me somehow ending the war, and so Dam decided to do her own small part for working towards peace by rescuing one of your mothers…”

“You’re sure it was my mother?” I asked, leaning forward a little bit. Mom used to talk about my other mother sometimes, but she didn’t really go into a lot of details. I knew she’d been a church guard, and a soldier in the war against demons, and that she’d been really strong and kind… that she liked to laugh lots and lots, and that she made my mother smile a lot. Lots of little things like that. But I didn’t really know her in the way I knew Mom. So the chance to learn more… I was kind of excited!

“Fairly certain, at least,” Eena confirmed. “She apparently had a plan to name her daughter after Luci - that is, after my ancestor. Considering the single letter separating your names, it’s hard to believe my aunt could have been talking about anyone else.”

“Well, I’d love to learn more,” I admitted. “As long as you’re sure about bringing me?”

“Trust me when I say that there’s no heartwarming reunion - or friendly meeting, for that matter - at risk of being interrupted. So far, all my aunt’s done is insult my mother and complain about the supposed lies that led up to my existence. If there’s any fondness for her niece to be found in that heart of hers, it’s yet to make a proper showing.”

“Well, if you’re sure… I can’t say that I’m not kind of excited!” I confessed. “And maybe a little worried, too? I never thought I’d be learning about my second mom like this…”

“Welcome to the club,” Eena replied, holding out her hand for me to take. “It’s been one unexpected thing after another, ever since I messed up the Rite of Insight. Did I ever tell you that I was actually on a mission to gather salt when I first ran into you? I’m not sure what was more shocking - coming face to face with the Heroine I feared, accidentally seducing her, or discovering potatoes of all things in a tiny village I’d stumbled across.”

“Um, Eena, one of those things seems pretty different from the others,” I pointed out, taking her hand.

“Yes, well, I suppose the sex perhaps should have been expected, considering our mutual lack of sexual inhibitions, but still. It was quite a shock to me at the time when you were so eager to go along with it…”

“That’s not the thing I meant!” I protested, allowing Eena to lead me towards her teleportation circle.

“What, the potatoes?” she asked. “Please. If you think their appearance was anything less than life-altering, then you’ve severely underestimated the versatility of tastes they can offer. In fact, my new sister’s already figured out the wonders thrice baking them - as you’ll see tonight.”

“Eena!” I laughed, a broad smile crossing my face. Even though I was a little worried about meeting with Devilla’s aunt, and hearing about my family, I couldn’t help but think that as long as I had Eena by my side, everything would work out fine.

***

 Devilla

***

It was only upon returning to the dining room that I noticed a grievous oversight - namely that there were only enough pork chops and potatoes prepared for the expected number of guests, leaving poor Lucy out of it entirely. Of course, I could settle that easily by giving her half of mine, but still… Something to consider if I was ever to crash a meal with Lucy again.

“So that’s the girl?” Marlene asked, her low tone dragging me back to arguably more important matters. “Brielle’s daughter?”

“That was one of my moms’ names,” Lucy confirmed, with a nod. “I don’t really know if she was the same one you’re talking about, though… Mom - the mom who raised me, I mean - never told me about any of this stuff…”

“She didn’t?” Marlene asked, arching an eyebrow. “And yet you found yourself at the tower, anyways?”

“Well, that’s because I’m-”

“I discovered her,” I interrupted, internally apologizing to Lucy for the interruption. “In fact, we’re dating… Something of a coincidence, I must admit, if what you say about her parentage is true.”

“You’re dating… a human?” my aunt asked me, horror and shock in equal measures shining through her tone.

“More than that,” I continued, sparing a glance for Lucy. She gave me an encouraging smile, no doubt predicting what I wanted to say. The very thing I’d kept her from admitting, a moment prior - but timing was everything, and saying that she’d come to the tower purely because of this would have given the wrong impression. “I’m dating the Heroine.”

For a moment, the table tensed. Marlene stared at me with wide eyes, while Nivera’s gaze flicked between us, even as the tip of her tail curled and uncurled in anxiety. A tic she’d had since she was a child. Abigail, meanwhile, had her eyes closed, but I could practically see the vein throbbing in her forehead. She probably found my approach to things almost as bad as Lucy blurting it out herself.

At least Chloe seemed amused.

Then Marlene laughed. A loud, and long laugh. “Oh, woman… the angels above must truly have a twisted sense of humor, if they chose her. They must hate your family more than anything, if they’d pick someone who only exists because of your parents actions…”

“And what actions, precisely, would those be?” I questioned, noting the frown on Lucy’s face. I was sure she had her own interpretation on matters, and that we’d be hearing it shortly. For now, however, I was more interested in what my aunt had to say. “I know that you said my dam saved a human, and brought her to a cave - but surely there’s more to the story than that, yes?”

“Oh yes,” Marlene confirmed, grabbing her bottle of wine and taking what was - by comparison to her norm, at least - a reserved sip. “Lots more… Like the fact that said human’s wife came to the frontlines looking for her.”

“Mom did?” Lucy asked, looking surprised.

“Aye,” Marlene confirmed, nodding. “Assuming you’re who you claim. It was a priestess, by the name of Olivia. She came searching for her wife who’d gone missing in action, and one thing led to another, and well… I don’t really know the details myself, but next thing I knew Issa was telling me there were two of them. Which is when things really started to go to shit.”

“What do you mean?” I questioned her, leaning forward across the table. “Is that how they got caught by Alira?”

“Maybe,” Marlene said, shrugging. “Don’t really know about the timing of that. But once there were two of them… Well, Issa was already trying to figure out how to send back one missing soldier without attracting attention, so you can imagine the headache it gave her when there were two. It wasn’t like they could just head back to human lands, no questions asked, you know? People would want to know where they’d been. How they’d escaped detection by demons. How they’d gotten back… That’s why Issa took it into her head to go to your mother for help.”

“My mother?” I asked, blinking from surprise. “Mother helped with this, as well?”

“That she did,” Marlene confirmed, taking another - much longer - swig of wine. “She and that Doll General of hers. They came up with the idea of putting them together with a bunch of prisoners of war, and staging an escape - allowing them to go back to the humans alongside a couple less important prisoners of war… And it worked, too - for a certain definition of it, anyways. Though I for one don’t think it was worth the cost…” Saying so, she narrowed her eyes at Lucy.

Lucy didn’t flinch, though. She set her shoulders and met Marlene’s eyes square on. “What was the cost?”

“Aunt Issa,” came a voice. Not Marlene’s, but Chloe’s. “She died during a prisoner escape, alongside a bunch of other soldiers, when the Heroine attacked a prison camp….”

Marlene didn’t say a word. She just grabbed her wine bottle and started chugging, emptying it before slamming it back down on the table.

“So that’s what happened…” I murmured. “But why didn’t Lucy’s mother ever tell her about it?”

“Olivia was never sold on everything,” Marlene muttered, after a moment. “Not as much as Brielle, at least. Maybe she wasn’t sure of what to say to you, or something.” She shrugged. “No clue. You’d have to ask Doll if you wanted to know more - she was actually in on it, at least. I just sat back and worried about my crazy human sympathizing sister and hoped for the best…”

“Doll did seem to think we’d have questions for her, at some point,” I murmured, thinking back to her cryptic words the other day. “I suppose perhaps it’s time we went to her for a conversation?”

“That might be hard,” Nivera said, sighing. “She’s on vacation.”

“...Vacation?” Abigail asked. “What do you mean vacation? As in, time off? Because I’m pretty sure this warrants going to get her anyways!”

“If she was taking time off I”d have said that,” Nivera retorted, rolling her eyes. “She’s on vacation. You know, as in, off who knows where, doing who knows what?”

“You mean she left the tower?” I questioned, hardly able to believe my ears. “She trekked through the wasteland, into human lands?”

“Maybe? Probably not, but… who knows? She just disappeared. Left a lot of careful notes for her assistants to run things in her absence. Didn’t even say when she’d be back…”

“Great…” I muttered, groaning. “So we have no way of tracking her?”

“I wouldn’t say no way,” Chloe chimed in, between bites of food. She’d grabbed a potato and pork chop from the central plates at some point, and seemed to have consumed half of each already. “There’s one person in this tower who’s basically aware of everything. If Doll hasn’t left the tower, she’ll know…”

“You mean Sylvanna?” Abigail asked, grimacing, before shaking her head. “No. No way. You don’t know what she’s like to Devilla.”

“ Like hell I don’t,” Nivera scowled. “Do you think I haven’t been keeping tabs on my sister all these years? I know exactly what sort of a bitch she’s been. And I agree with you - Devilla shouldn’t have to deal with that crap. I’ll ask.”

“Wait,” Lucy interrupted, holding up a hand. “Isn’t Sylvanna the slime lady Devilla promised to help? What’s wrong with her? Devilla said they don’t get along, and that she did something very bad to Sylvanna when she was younger,  but she never really went into details beyond that.”

“She threatened Sylvanna with not bringing back the slimes,” Abigail informed her, before I could speak. “When she was seven. And Sylvanna’s taken that as an excuse to abuse her at every opportunity, ever since.”

“I would hardly call her anger at me abuse,” I protested. “She simply has… well deserved ire towards me.”

“Nobody deserves the sort of stuff she’s said to you, sis,” Nivera argued, crossing her arms. “She’s done everything from insulting your intelligence to outright blaming you for your mom’s death. She doesn’t deserve any of your time.”

“Well, I still need to report how I’m doing with the depetrification progress,” I pointed out. My voice sounded weak, even to my own ears, though. 

“I’ll handle it,” Abigail promised. “Like I told you I would last time she came up.”

“But this is different! It’s about Lucy’s parentage. Surely it’s worth me facing her for that?”

“No, it isn’t,” Lucy said, firmly. “I mean, I’m not really sure of all the details, but if what they’re saying is true than she’s basically your abuser, right? I don’t want you to have to face abuse just to help me learn more! Especially not when someone else could do it.”

“...Fine,” I conceded, after a moment. “But if she insists upon seeing me to finish things-”

“You can cross that bridge when you come to it,” Nivera said. “And maybe burn it to the ground while you’re at it, so that you never have to see her again. For now, though, you’re going to eat the food I cooked like a good girl and get to know your fucking family. Alright?”

“...Alright…” I nodded, cheeks red.

Lucy giggled, reaching out to take my hand and give it a squeeze. It helped me manage a smile.

The delicious food only further added to it.

~~~

Author's Notes

Depression is still super bad, but I managed to write this and I'm proud of it. I hope you enjoy!

Next update we'll be back to the adventure proper. And maybe some side bit with Abigail and Sylvanna? We'll see....

Next up, though, I'm probably gonna work on a bit of an overdue commission, and then maybe write some Naughty Magic... Or work on a one-shot? We'll see what time and depression brings...